It's a Jungle out there!

I don't like how fast this time is going by. It flies by like crazy. Man. Tuesday we taught Hector. He is a swell guy. He didn't commit to come to church, but he did commit to keep reading and praying. We taught about baptism and confirmation and about the commandment that we have received to do those things. On paper technically he isn't progressing, but spiritually he is progressing a lot. He says that he feels closer to God by the things that we teach him. He feels inclined to do the rig thing because we are helping him to do so. He feels Godin his life due to the Gospel.

We then taught Benny. We had planned to teach him the plan of Salvation, but his questions and the Spirit guided us to talk more about the atonement. We talked about the difference between knowing
about Christ and really knowing Him. We talked about the implications about Joseph Smith being called as a prophet. There isn't middle ground. He was either a prophet or he was a deceiver inspired of the devil. That took a little convincing. He wants and needs the Gospel so bad. He needs it in his life. He has been very dedicated to God in the past, bus has slipped a little bit, but we are going to help him to do it. He knows his bible, and that makes it so much easier for us to teach!  He is spiritually mature and can recognize the Spirit. He is gonna go far!

We picked up Lilian and Angel this week. We haven't seen them in forever. Lilian is super confused about all the churches. She is so afraid of asking God which is true, receiving an answer, and then not
being able to tell whether it is from God or the devil. We explained to her how to know. We have to ask in faith, not doubting at all that God won't answer us. We also have to be willing to follow whatever answer He in His wisdom decides to give us. I asked her if she would be willing to make he necessary changes in her life to join the churchif she received and answer that it was true. She kind of dodged the question, but she understands. She if kind of frustrating and gets off on random tangents, but that's when we bring it back and help her focus.... She'll get there. We met with them on Saturday and focused on revelation and how to receive it from the Book of Mormon. The lesson was super good, but we will see where it goes...

Two of our investigators, Brenda and Geraldo, are progressing nicely. We asked Geraldo about what he had read in the Book of Mormon, and he said he couldn't remember. We showed him how to mark his scriptures so he could learn more. He was so stoked about it. He loves reading now.  We saw them later and watched the restoration DVD with em. It was a good time. Loving life.

We saw Luis Figueroa, one of our recently reactivared members. We talked about the temple. His wife has been to the temple as a kid to be sealed to their parents, but neither of them have received their endowment. They have an 18 month old daughter named Eva and they know they need to be sealed. Luis mentioned to us that we always say that he needs to go to the temple, and that he knows that the temple is important, but that he doesn't feel the urgency that some others feel.  He doesn't want to go to the temple because everyone else wants him to, rather he wants it to come from his own desires. We told him that was good! We tried to explain the importance of the endowment and
sealing ordinances, but then the Spirit thankfully prompted us to talk about prayer. We told him that he needed to pray to learn more about temples and ask God to help him feel the importance of going to the temple to receive those blessings. His attitude changed, and he became more intrigued and interested, and committed to pray and to study about the temple. Good things are gonna happen there.

So basically Satan is tempting our branch hardcore before it becomes a ward in two weeks. Our elders quorum president basically resigned, along with our young women's president. But that's ok because we keep moving forward. The work of The Lord cannot be frustrated. I have a testimony of that. I have had some super spiritual experiences this week that have confirmed the truthfulness of this work. The Holy Ghost had told me that it is true. I know it. Love the Gospel. If you love it, live it to the max. I know this stuff is true.

 Love y'all tonzzz.

Elder Mike Dial

Plátanos Fritos‏

Monday, June 16, 2014

What up blokes? Things are getting hot and humid over here. We had some serious rain and storm action here over the past couple days, but that's ok, because the storms of the skies nor the storms of life can quench the Spirit of The Lord. Here's a little bit of what we did this week.
 
Our Zone Focus as a mission was to get 12 lessons as a companionship taught to less actives and recent converts. So we really tried to focus on those. On Tuesday, we met with some less actives and what not. The highlight of the day was when we went and met with Hector. We taught him about the Ten Commandments and how we can live them today. When we taught about adultery, he came to realize that he has been living in sin for the past 20 years. We committed him to talk with his pareja about getting married. We promised him blessings that will come as he keeps the law of chastity and tried to help him to realize the great importance of keeping the commandments of God. We read out of Mosiah 2:41 to show. I love that scripture. It is such an excellent demonstration of what the obedient receive when they keep the commandments. He committed to read 1 Nephi 3. He reads one chapter a week, like 4 or 5 times just to make sure that he understands it well.  Hopefully the Spirit touches him and helps him to make the change!

 On Wednesday, We went and taught Juanita about the atonement. It went decent. The Spirit just wasn't there as strong as it has been before.  We were trying to teach that amazing doctrine of the atonement so she could be motivated to change, but we are just unsure of whether it hit home for her. We are praying and doing our best to know what to do.  Her situation is super tough and she wants the Gospel so bad in her life, but maybe isn't willing to make the necessary sacrifices to accept it. I hope I'm wrong and she starts doing the necessary things!
 
Passed by Luis and Aida and watched the Great Apostasy video with them. Taught about how it is a fundamental principle of the Gospel that Christ established His church and that after being lost and
 corrupted over many years that the Gospel is back through living prophets and apostles. They say they understand. But if you do, why don't you read the Book of Mormon, pray to know if it is true, and come to church so you can come to know for yourself if these things are true? Haha I feel like there is a theme in my entry for today. We can talk all we want, but until we actually start to do something to serve The Lord it won't profit us anything! We committed them to read and pray, and I hope that they change this time and do it. Haha we gave Luis a triple combination with large print, and he is up to section 90 already of the Doctrine and Covenants. He's finished the Book of Mormon. We hope that the Spirit will tell him to actually act some more now!

 Taught Brenda and Geraldo about the atonement of Jesus Christ. It went well. Geraldo is a swell guy. Super funny. Brenda is always marking her Book of Mormon where we read it while we are there. She still doesn't feel comfortable praying, but she'll get there. Geraldo loves to read and pray. We are going to invite them to be baptized the next lesson. Get stoked!

 We taught Coralie about the plan of salvation. Had a ton of great questions that led us perfectly through the lesson. She is like the only one that is actually acting. She is reading, actually praying,  making plans so she can actually come to church, and agreed to baptism on conditions of receiving an answer of the truthfulness of these things. She is the youngest of all our investigators at 18 but she's the only one that gets it! She is a bright spot in a dark place right now, and we will see what happens!

We did some other stuff throughout the other days, probably taught some lessons and found some investigators, but on Saturday we taught Hermano Santana. He's he one that we had stopped by like a dozen times and just said hi and that we loved him before he invited us back. We watched the restoration DVD with him. Turns out he was baptized around 25-30 years ago. It's been a minute. So his current wife and his two daughters are not baptized. Hopefully The Lord can help us to reactivate Hermano Santana and to teach and baptize his family members. The lesson that we had with him went well. Solid participation from him, and he seems to want to progress. We gave him a Book of Mormon and invited him to read it with  his daily study of the bible, and he said that he would do it. We are stoked about him.  He could be a strength to the branch as it becomes a ward. We set up a
 time to go back when we could teach him when Teresa, his wife, could be present as well. It's gonna be awesome!!

Well we are lovin life here. Keep moving forward. Always do your best, because our time on earth is short. There isn't time to waste, so literally live each day like it's your last. Do good.  Love one another.  Love God and serve Him. 

Love you all!!!!!

 Elder Dial
 
  Mis amores. Chachi Castro y Wendalyn Martínez

Get Stoked on LIFE!!!!

Monday June 9, 2014

Well isn't it just a wonderful June day writing you on my iPad? I
think it is. We are already in June and it is going by. I literally
can't believe it. Well, here are some things that happened his week.

Something that on Monday was tight. We had a lesson with Brenda, which
was AWESOME!!! Partially because her husband, Geraldo, and her
daughter, Yeilin was there. The other part was because the Spirit was
incredibly strong. We taught them the plan of salvation. I love
teaching people about where they came from, why they are here, and
where they are going after this life because many people aren't sure.
They have heard things, but can't say for sure what is going to
happen. Thanks to the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, we can! We read
out of Alma 34 to talk about our life on earth and Alma 40 to talk
about the spirit world. I think it really hit home for them. We
haven't had a lesson with Geraldo or Yeilin in forever, so it was
super good to meet with them again, and I really do see them
progressing in the not too distant future. Geraldo prayed at the end
of the lesson and gave an incredibly heartfelt prayer. It was awesome.
Felt the Spirit testifying through me!

So I found out on Wednesday that I never deferred my enrollment at
LDSBC, so I called (with permission!) the admissions office because my
registration wasn't working, and that's when they told me that I
wasn't in the system because I never deferred my enrollment. I never
thought that I would get kicked out of college, but apparently that's
what happened. I swear LDSBC doesn't want me haha. First they reject
my application when I apply the first time, the kick me out while I am
in the service of The Lord. Sad day. But that's ok. I needed an
ecclesiastical endorsement to reapply, and I sent it to President
Anderson, and he just pushed the go button. Makes things easier.
Pretty sure I know the honor code and am willing to live it. Good
times. My reapplication is in and now I'm just waiting on them to
accept it. I just wanna get that fetching thing over with.

Then we had a SUPER good lesson with Coralie! Like awesome. President
Payba and Ari went with us. It was super funny, because Coralie
understands more English, but speaks Spanish, and president Payba
speaks more Spanish,  but understands English. So it only fit for our
Puerto Rican investigator that we had the lesson in Spanglish, because
that's what Puerto Ricans all speak. We taught about faith,
repentance, baptism, and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. The
Spirit was so strong that you could have cut it with a knife. She
said, "Whenever you guys are here, I feel so good! I feel so peaceful!
Why does it go away when you leave?" We taught about the difference
between the gift of the Holy Ghost and the power of the Holy Ghost.
She is super prepared. We first found her grandma, then grandpa, then
mom, dad, brothers, sister, and finally we found the one who is the
most prepared of all. She agreed to be baptized by proper priesthood
authority, and we set a baptismal date for the 6th of July (the day we
become a ward!) She isn't quite sure yet, but she is sure on the way
to knowing for sure! We are literally giddy about her progress and
can't wait to see how things come out. She is going to be the key for
her whole family accepting the Gospel! She didn't end up coming to
church, but she gave a hard commitment for next week.

We got a call from Teodoro basically saying he doesn't want to meet
with us anymore. It came as a complete surprise. He had been reading,
praying, and spending time with his family. He had been loving the
Gospel and I can't see any particular reason why this would have
happened, but it did. That's the worst part of missionary work. Seeing
people with so much potential just not realize it and give up
happiness for a mediocre life. That's ok. The impression came to me to
write him and his family a thank you note for their kindness in
letting us come over and visit them. What I have learned is that my
love for him or anyone else isn't conditional on their joining the
church or meeting with us at all. I love them because they are my
brothers and sisters as much as Matt, Megan, Meredith, and Marcus are.
I truly do love them, and that's why I do this. We can't obligate, but
we can invite. We can always have our arms outstretched ready to
receive anyone, just like the Savior does for us.

We met with our investigator Benny on Saturday. Started the Plan of
Salvation. He really liked the lesson. People generally like the Plan
of Salvation. It just gives you a sense of depth and personal meaning
you can't really find anywhere else! He has a lot of bible knowledge,
but has strayed off the path a little bit and is having trouble
getting back. We testified of the reality and the personal nature of
the atonement of Jesus Christ. We told him that sometimes what matters
to God is our being just a little better today than we were yesterday
and committing to try to be a little better tomorrow. We talked about
overcoming temptation and resisting carnal desires. It was super good.
He committed to read and pray. He is going to go far if he keeps this
up!

The Lord truly works in mysterious ways. Sometimes through ice cream
cravings. We went to McDonald's to grab some ice cream cones, and who
happens to show up at McDonald's? Coralie. She told us that she had
been reading in the Book of Mormon. Come to find out that she has been
doing missionary work for us! She showed the movie "Joseph Smith:
Prophet of the Restoration" to her parents and grandparents. That has
opened the door to so many more of her family! She had been reading in
Alma, and we had to explain that Alma is not a girl. In Spanish it is
a female name, so that creates some confusion some times, but that's
ok. It was awesome. She should be at church tomorrow.

Right after we saw Coralie at McDonald's, we went and saw Joanna and
Axel, her parents. They were super interested after watching the
Joseph Smith movie, so we went over and talked. They asked questions
about temples, and we explained what they were, what goes on inside,
and why they are important. We showed her Mormon.org and how she can
search for answers there as well. The Spirit was so strong as we
correlated the temple with the plan of salvation. They felt it. We
felt it. We know we were guided to them at that time. They should all
come to church tomorrow!

Well the work goes on triumphant here in Bethlehem. God is hastening
His work. Try and see what you can do to hasten it too. Don't be
afraid to invite people to listen to the missionaries! What's the
worst that could happen? They say no? That happens to me every day and
it doesn't phase me! Get stoked.

Love y'all.

Elder Mike Dial

D&C 88:73

The Lord truly is hastening His work. I have been blessed to see that
many times in many ways. One of them is the fact that the Allentown
Branch will become a ward on July 6. I can't describe to you my
feelings. It has been so amazing seeing this branch grow, and even
though we aren't perfect yet, we have seen miracles happen all the
time.

We met with Hipolito. He is a less active we have been working with
for some time He is a swell guy. I helped him fix his internet. The
Ethernet cord was plugged into the wrong port and he has been out of
internet for days because of it haha. He was so concerned and I went
and plugged it in the right place and had it fixed in approximately 2
seconds. Then we showed him how to get the scriptures on lds.org and
general conference and all that jazz. Then we watched Elder Bednar's
April 2014 talk with him. That is awesome. Trials and tribulations
increase our spiritual traction and allow us to confront head on those
challenges that God will allow us to experience in this life. It went
super well.

We had a ballin lesson with Coralie and Fabian. Coralie asked, "Hey,
is there like a movie about Joseph Smith?" Talk about inspired
questions from the investigator. Well out the window our planned
lesson went and on to YouTube we looked up "Joseph Smith: Prophet of
the Restoration." They had tons of questions during and after the
film. We explained to them that all that they had seen was either true
or it was not. Knowledge of the truthfulness of these things hangs on
the belief that Joseph Smith was called as a prophet of God, and that
knowledge can come from reading in and praying about the Book of
Mormon. They, Coralie specifically, are so stoked to read. We are
excited for them. I felt prompted to testify of the priesthood and
showed them my line of authority, which I am blessed to have with me.
That really made it real for them. I try to live according to the
covenant I mad when I received that priesthood. They are gonna go so
far!!!

Had a good lesson with Teodoro for the first time in a while. We
established our expectations with him. He established his expectations
with us. We explained that we claim that Joseph Smith didn't just
start another church, but that he restored THE church. It isn't just
another Gospel, rather that isn't is the true, complete, and restored
Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon is evidence that Joseph
Smith was called as a prophet. He is progressing, little by little. He
is reading and praying often with his daughter! He has been reading in
the Book of Mormon with her. He explained to us the effect that it has
had on him, and described to us his feelings about it. The Spirit was
there, and it was an awesome experience.

We also went the Saturday night session of stake conference here. I
had a couple impressions. One sister said that we can't show people
the Gospel by any other motive but love. We literally have to "love
them into the Gospel." I loved that. That is the root of everything!
Love! Several people from the congregation were asked to share
experiences about their own member missionary work, and the Spirit was
strong. The stake president asked all the missionaries in the room to
stand. The full time missionaries stood up, but then he said, "Now we
have a whole lot more missionaries than that in this stake. I didn't
say full time..." Then everyone stood up. They taught out of Preach My
Gospel and told every member to get one and to study it. The session
was all about hastening the work of salvation, and it was a blessing
to be there!

I know that what we desire to be one day we are now becoming. That is
the basis of the Gospel. We know who we are. We are children of God,
with the potential to become perfected, glorified, and empowered just
like He is. We need to learn to become like Him way before the time
that we are reunited with Him face to face. I know this is true. God
lives. He wants us to be happy, and that's why he gives us His Gospel
and His commandments. I love you all! Thanks for the never ending love
and support you send my way. I feel it and it sustains me!


Elder Dial